How Are Conspiracy Beliefs Associated with Generosity?

Abstract

Previous research has demonstrated that higher levels of belief in conspiracy theories are related to higher levels of distrust toward others, greater antisocial tendencies, and more self-centeredness. These findings suggest that conspiracy believers may also be less likely to be generous. However, very little research has thus far investigated this possibility. In the current study, we examined the association between COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs and generosity across a sample of 45,073 participants from 52 countries. We found that participants with higher COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs were less likely to donate to national and international charities, and that this negative association was stronger for donations to national charities. Exploratory analyses revealed that the discrepancy between national and international charity donations was more salient in countries with high levels of corruption, suggesting that conspiracy believers might be more suspicious of ingroups, rather than outgroups, in more corrupt countries.

The Positive Association of Education with the Trust in Science and Scientists is Weaker in Highly Corrupt Countries

“…If the expectation of dishonesty is not ungrounded, then an increase in education would not be strongly related to an increase in trust in science and scientists since one would have good enough reasons not to trust in such contexts. Past research showed that country-level corruption is a significant factor in predicting conspiracy beliefs (Alper, 2021;Alper et al, 2021;Alper & Imhoff, 2022), and the negative association between education and conspiracy beliefs is weaker in high corruption countries because conspiracy beliefs are relatively more plausible in these contexts (Alper, 2021). In the current research, we similarly argue that the association of education with trust in science and scientists would be weaker in countries with high corruption.…”

“…This novel finding is worth discussing in more detail: Why does corruption weaken the relationship between education and trust in science and scientists? Perhaps, recent work assessing the role of corruption within the conspiracy beliefs literature (Alper, 2021;Alper & Imhoff, 2022;Alper et al, 2021) may provide important insights into this question. In three large-scale cross-cultural samples, Alper (2021) found that the negative relationship between education and conspiracy beliefs was moderated by countrylevel corruption, such that this relationship only emerged in low corruption countries.…”

“…A plausible explanation for this is that, in highly corrupt countries, individuals' expectations of secretive alliances are considerably more credible, compared to countries with low corruption, as 'real conspiracies' (such as bribery, censorship, etc.) often do happen in such contexts (Alper, 2021;Alper & Imhoff, 2022;Alper et al, 2021). Thus, even highly educated individuals may find certain conspiracy theories quite probable, which makes education status less effective in predicting peoples' conspiracy beliefs (Alper, 2021).…”

Predicting attitudinal and behavioral responses to COVID-19 pandemic using machine learning

“…Namely, endorsement of COVID-19 conspiracy theories was associated with lower intentions to engage in physical distancing and lower policy support. Given that conspiracy believers were found to be more self-centered ( 60 ) and less generous ( 61 ) during the COVID-19 pandemic, this finding speaks in favor of viewing contact avoidance as a form of prosocial action.…”

Suspecting Foul Play When It Is Objectively There: The Association of Political Orientation with General and Partisan Conspiracy Beliefs as a Function of Corruption Levels

“…Each conspiracy theory, regardless of whether it is about evil scientists, shape-shifting aliens, or a secret society, functions as a "wake-up call" for people that are about to be harmed by an illintentioned outgroup, given that the theory is correct. Recent research suggested that certain social factors, including but not limited to corruption (Alper, 2021;Alper, Douglas et al, 2021) and inequality (Casara et al, 2022) could be triggering conspiracy beliefs since the perceived discrepancy in outcomescould be seen as signs of being exploited by outgroups. In this paper, we make use of a large, multisite dataset (23 countries, N > 20,000; Imhoff, Zimmer et al, 2022) to analyze how country-level corruption predicts conspiracy beliefs among people with right-wing and left-wing political orientations.…”